Gang jailed, fined Dhs1.9m for robbery, kidnapping

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the 3-year-imprisonment of eight people, including one at large, and fined them jointly Dhs1.9 million, for kidnapping a company owner and another person and stealing the mentioned amount.

The convicts would be deported after serving the terms, the Court ruled.

In the meantime, the Dubai Civil Court ordered the gang members to pay the company Dhs1.9 million with legal interest at the rate of 5 per cent from the date of the claim until full payment, in addition to the fees and expenses.

The incident dates back to September 2020, when a company owner reported that he and another person had been kidnapped from his company’s headquarters, by a gang that impersonated cops, and stole Dhs1.9 million.

The gang members, who had three cars, drove towards the International City, where the abductees were left in one of those cars, before the gangsters ran away, the company’s owner added.

He stated that three persons entered the company’s headquarters and claimed they were cops.

They asked him for the commercial licence, and he told them that it was in his partner’s possession for renewal. And when he tried to contact his partner, one of them seized his phone, and the company safe’s keys as well.

After that, they ordered the company’s owner and another employee to accompany them.

They forced them into one of the three vehicles, where other five were waiting outside the company’s headquarters and then drove away, he told the police. 

He continued, “When I asked them about the reason for our arrest, one of the five defendants said that they are heading to the police station for interrogation.”

In the International City, the company’s owner asked them for water, so they stopped in front of a grocery and allowed the other person to go and buy water. After that, one of the accused asked the owner to go and buy an energy drink and handed him his mobile phone. When the two went out of the grocery store, they found the gang had gone, so the owner instantly called his partner and asked him to go and check the company. When the partner reached the company’s headquarters, he found a mess in the place and that the money in the safe had been stolen. There was Dhs1.9 million in the safe, according to the company’s owner.

A police officer stated that the second and third suspects had been arrested following intensified investigation. The two men directed the police to the rest of the suspects, who were arrested and part of the amount was seized in their possession.

In interrogation, the suspects confessed to conniving to rob the company for which one of them was working. This was after the latter had informed them that the company had illegal funds, which it got from unlicensed bank transfers, they told the prosecution.